Movies like Pioneer (2013)
The best movies like Pioneer (2013) are The Burning Sea (2021), The Wave (2015) and Dead in the Water (2018). If Pioneer hooked you with its thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedInto the White (2012)6.9/10 from 352 votes
- NewestKraken (2026)Released 2026
The Burning Sea (2021)
An oil platform dramatically goes down on the Norwegian coast, and researchers try to find out what happened when they realize this is just the start of something even more serious.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wave (2015)
Although theorised, no one is really ready when a mountain pass above the scenic and narrow Geiranger fjord in Norway collapses and creates a tsunami over 300 feet high. A geologist is one of those caught in the middle of it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead in the Water (2018)
The Nereus is a fifty-year-old Ice Breaker, salvaged by an idealistic crew on a mission to catch illegal fisherman. On chase, the crew find themselves well off-course and bearing down on a body mysteriously floating in the middle of the Devil’s Sea. Superstitious or not, the team soon discovers they’ve rescued a deadly creature feeding on the lifeless body. Their new mission—kill or be killed and preferably before they hit land.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Tunnel (2019)
When a truck crashes inside a tunnel, people on their way home for Christmas are brutally trapped in a deadly fire. With a blizzard raging outside, and the first responders struggling to get to the accident, it's every man for himself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreaking Surface (2020)
Two Swedish/Norwegian half sisters go on a winter diving trip in Northern Norway, when they get trapped after a rockslide.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCutterhead (2019)
Rie is a PR-coordinator visiting a tunnel boring machine to portray the well-oiled European cooperation in the Metro construction when an accident suddenly occurs. Unable to escape, she takes refuge in an airlock with Croatian miner Ivo and Bharan, a worker from Eritrea.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSummit Fever (2022)
A daring dream to scale the world's most challenging trio of mountains soon turns into a terrifying nightmare for a group of friends when a deadly storm traps the climbers near the summit and cuts off all hope of rescue. With the odds stacked against them, the friends are forced to trust each other to save themselves by any means necessary.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisInto the Forest (2016)
Tom (8) and Benjamin (11) travel to Stockholm to spend the summer with their father, whom they have barely seen since he divorced their mother. Tom, in particular, knows next to nothing about this strange, solitary man who seems never to sleep. When he suggests they spend a few days at his cabin in the country, the boys are delighted. But the cabin is totally isolated in the middle of a huge forest, a place both beautiful and troubling.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisKraken (2026)
A marine biologist is doing research on a fish farm when she encounters several strange occurrences. Along with the brutal deaths of two teenagers, all signs point to the deep fjord; can there be more to the depths than the eye can see?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZero Kelvin (1995)
Larsen, an aspiring poet in '20s Oslo, leaves his girlfriend to spend a year as a trapper in East Greenland. There he is teamed with a seemingly rough old sailor/trapper, Randbæk, and a scientist, Holm. Trapped in a tiny hut together as the Arctic winter sets in, a complex and intense love/hate relationship develops between Randbæk and Larsen, who are more similar than either would like to admit. A powerful psychological and physical drama set against stunningly bleak Arctic scenery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCentigrade (2020)
A young American couple travel to the arctic mountains of Norway. After pulling over during a snowstorm, they wake up trapped in their SUV, buried underneath layers of snow and ice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSanctum (2011)
Master diver Frank McGuire has explored the South Pacific's Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank's team—including 17-year-old son Josh and financier Carl Hurley are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Abyss (2023)
As the Swedish town of Kiruna sinks, Frigga finds herself torn between her family and her job as security chief at the world's largest underground mine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Quake (2018)
A geologist races against time to save his estranged wife and two children when a devastating earthquake strikes Oslo, Norway.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013)
In February of 1959, nine Russian hikers ventured into a remote area of the Ural Mountains. Two weeks later, all of them were found dead. What happened is a mystery that has baffled investigators and researchers for decades. It has become known as the Dyatlov Pass Incident. When five ambitious American college students are issued a grant to return to the site of the original events, they gear up with the belief that they can uncover and document the truth of what happened to the supposedly experienced hikers. But what they find is more shocking than anything they could have imagined. Retracing the steps of the Russians' ill-fated journey, the students are plagued by strange and increasingly terrifying phenomena that suggest that in spite of the desolate surroundings, they are not alone. The forces at work in the Dyatlov Pass Incident have been waiting for them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSea Fever (2020)
The crew of a West of Ireland trawler—marooned at sea—struggle for their lives against a growing parasite in their water supply.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmundsen (2019)
The story of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, the leader of the first expedition to reach the South Pole in 1911, and the first person to reach both the North and South Poles in 1926. Follows his all-consuming drive as a polar explorer and the tragedy he brought on himself and others by sacrificing everything in the icy wastelands to achieve his dream.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Hijacking (2012)
Tensions are high after a Danish freighter is captured and held for ransom by Somali pirates, leading to weeks of high-stakes negotiations – and an escalating potential for explosive violence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPressure (2015)
Four divers are stuck deep underwater in a vessel after a freak storm destroys their ship. Will they survive?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last King (2016)
Norway, 1204. A civil war between the birkebeiners —the king's men— and the baglers —supporters of the Norwegian aristocracy and the Church— ravages the country. Two men must protect a baby, the illegitimate son of King Håkon, who will be the future king and peacemaker, from those who want to kill him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
SnoozefestMovies like thisAdrift (2018)
Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp couldn't anticipate that they would be sailing directly into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. In the aftermath of the storm, Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins. With no hope of rescue, Tami must now find the strength and determination to save herself and the only man she has ever loved.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInto the White (2012)
During World War II, enemy fighter pilots find themselves face to face after shooting down one another's planes over a desolate landscape. In order to survive, they must set aside the rules of war.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dig (2019)
After serving fifteen years for murder, Callahan returns home to find Sean, his victim’s father, searching for the body. With no memory of the murder, Callahan soon realises that the only way to get rid of Sean is to help him dig.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOpen Water (2004)
Two divers are left out at sea without a boat. There’s nothing but water for miles, unless they look at what’s underneath them...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ice Road (2021)
After a remote diamond mine collapses in far northern Canada, an ice road driver must lead an impossible rescue mission over a frozen ocean to save the trapped miners.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Heart of the Sea (2015)
In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex is assaulted by something no one could believe—a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeast of War (2025)
When their boat sinks while crossing the Timor Sea during World War II, a troop of young Australian soldiers must find a way to survive the harsh seas on a quickly shrinking raft. Hundreds of miles from anywhere, they must confront interpersonal conflicts, enemy attacks, and the advances of one very large, very hungry great white shark.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNotre-Dame on Fire (2022)
A film relating from the inside the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of April 2019.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeast (2022)
A recently widowed man and his two teenage daughters travel to a game reserve in South Africa. However, their journey of healing soon turns into a fight for survival when a bloodthirsty lion starts to stalk them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFear Is the Key (1972)
A deep-sea salvage expert enacts an elaborate plan to infiltrate and take revenge on a criminal organization that dealt him a foul misdeed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Pioneer?
The closest matches to Pioneer are The Burning Sea (2021), The Wave (2015) and Dead in the Water (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Pioneer?
People who watched Pioneer most often go on to The Burning Sea (2021), The Wave (2015) and Dead in the Water (2018).
What is the highest-rated movie like Pioneer?
Into the White (2012), rated 6.9/10 by 352 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Pioneer?
Kraken (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Pioneer chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Pioneer, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.